koalie's contemplations in markup

"Lord, beer me strength" --Jim

Subscribe to RSS feed

Posts tagged with "home life"

Recette : Filets de poisson en papillote, au curry et lait de coco

, , ,

Filets de poisson curry et coco en papillotes, pour 4.
Préparation : 15 minutes.
Cuisson : 20 minutes.



Ingrédients :
4 filets de poisson (merlu, cabillaud, etc.)
160 g de riz basmati
4 poignées de haricots verts extra-fins
2 carottes
200 ml de lait de coco
Curry, sel, ail moulu

Préparation :
1. Cuire 5 minutes le riz, et séparément les haricots et les carottes en lamelles.
2. Dans chaque papillote d'aluminium, déposer un fond de riz, disposer deux lamelles de carottes, une couche de haricots. Verser un fond de lait de coco. Saler, saupoudrer de curry.
3. Déposer les filets de poisson, saupoudrer de curry, de sel et d'ail. Disposer deux lamelles de carottes.
4. Garnir le riz restant autour des filets et recouvrir le riz du reste de haricots. Verser le reste du lait de coco sur les filets et autour.
5. Fermer les papillotes et enfourner 12 minutes à 180ºC, et 8 minutes à 210ºC.

Et voilà !

Crêpes: la technique de roulage évolue

, , ,

Grande amatrice de crêpes, il m'a tenu à coeur de faire évoluer la technique. ["faire évoluer la technique" est une expression tirée de la fabuleuse série télévisée Kaamelott. Perceval et Karadoc ont à coeur de faire évoluer la technique. Enfin eux, c'est surtout les techniques de combat. Et c'est surtout du grand n'importe quoi.]

  • Etalez votre mélange favori sur votre crêpe. Moi, typiquement, je tartine une couche de nutella et je saupoudre une petite quantité de sucre en poudre (pour le croustillant).
  • Rabattez un pan de crêpe aux tiers. Rabattez l'autre pan aux tiers, de manière à obtenir une bande de la hauteur de la crêpe et d'un tiers de sa taille en largeur.
  • Roulez votre crêpe dans le sens de la hauteur.
  • Croquez comme un nem.


Il n'y a *que* des avantages:
  1. Meilleure prise en main. Une seule main suffit à la manipuler.
  2. Pas de fuite. Votre mélange est sécurisé dans votre crêpe bien hermétique.
  3. La coupe transversale est fort jolie à regarder. (Il y en a pour qui ça compte).
  4. Gain de temps. Temps de roulage légèrement supérieur au roulage ou pliage classique. Par contre, en temps de consommation, vous serez incontestablement plus rapide. Ce qui vous permet au final de baffrer une plus grande quantité de crêpes.

Voila, vous m'en direz des nouvelles.

Words that I didn't know 9 months ago

, ,

Nine months ago, I had no idea that the words meconium, vernix or colostrum existed. I knew about labour, epidural, delivery, but the notions were very abstract.

My son is now fast asleep. We've been back home for a week. The hospital kept us for 6 long days ; Adrien had lost more than the usual 10% of his birth weight. He was born on 23 November at 7:37 p.m., 13 days ago. That was less than a half hour after they took me to the delivery room and an hour after we arrived at the hospital. There was no time for an epidural, as I made it all the way to 9 centimeters by the time I got there. I thought I might have the baby in the car! We left home in a hurry. It was time to go, suddenly, as the contractions were happening every two minutes. All day I had had them, every 10 or 15 minutes, sometimes every 5 minutes, but not for two hours. I had had them the night before too. In fact, they started in the afternoon the day before. I was attending the last birth preparation class and I started to experience contractions in the middle of it.

I had a wonderful and easy pregnancy. I was hardly tired and the only nuisance, really, was having to go to the doctor's every month. Only three weeks before the end did I start to walk at a slower pace. I was still at work 2 weeks before the end (only I thought I would have three weeks).

Adrien arrived a week in advance, on 23 November 2007, at 7:37 pm. He weighed 2,990 kg and was 49,5 cm tall. His father held my hand and encouraged me through it all. And since then, he's been as fantastic as ever, helping me and supporting me with the baby.

An unbelievable coincidence

, ,

On the way to lunch yesterday, I was chatting with a colleague and learnt she's moving house this Friday to a tiny town I used to live in back in 2004. Pretty soon in the conversation we found out she's moving exactly in the house I was in! How odd is that?!

I found out that my yucca is still there, healthy, right in front of the living room windows. I had inherited this yucca years ago, in 2000, I think, when a former W3C colleague left for the US and A. This yucca followed me in all the houses I've been in since then (5 different houses) and I left it in the garden of this house when I left. It was obviously in an ideal spot. When my ex moved out of the house a few months ago, he didn't have the heart to unearth the yucca. My colleague will take good care of it, I'm certain.

I also found out that my garden dwarf is still there! Well, it's now in the basement and she's more than happy to give it back to me. What a coincidence! I'm still marvelling at it.

This dwarf also has a story. I received it as a birthday gift in 2002, a joke that I deeply enjoyed. Actually it's a birthday gift that I shared with my ex boyfriend and when I left, I left the garden dwarf, Gringoire. I thought he had left the house with him. Gringoire must be far less shiny now and his colours must have worn off a bit. I'll see soon.

Update 05sep2007: Indeed, far less shiny with worn out colours, but it's Gringoire, all right!

Chaetophobia

, , ,

I was reminded of a phobia that I have had for as long as I remember. I meant to look the word up and Amy found it: Chaetophobia, the fear of hair. I don't know how to pronounce it, but I can certainly describe my own version of the phobia.

When I was a kid and my mum was bathing me, I was terrified of floating hair in the water. So I already had long hair at the time. I remember curling up as far as I could from these long, threatening, floating and offensive threats. My word was "thread", as in "there is a thread". My mother had to remove the floating "thread(s)" from the water.

Now I don't curl up so much, but I'm still really bugged by the occasional strand(s) of detached hair. A lot.

I don't mind attached hair at all. How funny to make the distinction.

o-ring

, , ,

The o-ring of my Bialetti moka express maker changed shaped last night. It's no longer usable. For a few month it had been "moribund" but usable. And I *used* it. Average of 3 pots per day.

I have had this Bialetti coffee maker for 2 years, now. I got is second (at least) hand, in New-Zealand, early in the trip.

I am attached to this coffee maker, for a number of reasons. So I will resume looking for a spankin' new o-ring. Last time I tried, a few months ago, I wasn't so successful. I almost purchased a whole set in the shop of a purveyor of Italian goods and delicacies in Roslindale. They didn't have the 4-cup model. Otherwhise I'd have got it just for the ring.

Update:I found o-rings in France, I brought them with me, and I'm happy to report they fit perfectly. I think it's neat.

Apple crumble

, ,

Apple crumble could very well be my favourite food. That, and crepes.

I made my first ever apple crumble last night. I tried to remember how Chaals made it.
I don't think I got it as right, but it was pretty good.

Tonight we're making crepes.

Estimating distances

, ,

Here's my folks' estimations of how many kilometers I flew in 2006:

  • My dad opened at 20,000 km (12,400 mi)
  • My mum started at 3,000 km (1,800 mi) and seeing my face changed to 12,000 km (7,500 mi)
  • My brother volunteered 15,000 km (9,300 mi)

When my mum started at 3,000 km, I thought about the 4,800 km (3,000 mi) I spent in a car in NZ in 2004.

I flew almost 82000 km (51,000 mi).
I'm bad at estimating distances myself, mind you.

The prank

,

The title is pompous, it sounds like it's the prank of the year. It's the last prank of the year, rather.

My brother asked to borrow my car from Sunday to Tuesday to drive to visit friends someplace. I wasn't so keen on the idea. My car insurance covers me only and besides, this car is getting old and it makes a strange noise when I decelerate. It's OK to use it for local errands. After insisting heavily that he would have to be careful and make sure to not end up in trouble, I told him he could have it.

That's when he said he was off to spend New Year's eve with his girlfriend. Aha! I was the only one in the family privvy to that bit of information. Also, she happens to live maybe 100 km away from where he said he'd drive. Tsk... He's so devious!

Yesterday my mum asked me why I was not interested in going with him and I said he hadn't offered me to join him. She had asked him if I was going with him and he had said "Nah, she said she wouldn't like it." Devious, I tell you.

So today he came over for lunch and I told him "you know, we think it's better if I go with you. We can take turns driving and if there's an incident with the car I'll be around. And oh well, I don't know your friends, but it's gonna be all right".

The look on his face was priceless. It was in between looking trapped and cornered. He eventually said, quite casually "In fact, I'll have a nice romantic New Year's eve dinner".

Pre-Christmas confusion

, , ,

In order to add to the confusion, I'm writing this now. (nah, it's not on purpose, really).

On the morning on 24 December I noticed a few questionable things:
  • Why are lobsters thawing?
  • Why is my brother coming over for dinner tonight?

Later in the day I got a phone call from a friend who was in the area, and we agreed to meet in Grasse for a stroll, maybe a coffee, and generally to catch up. We had some jolly good time and when it was time to split, he said he was almost in a hurry because he had dinner at his uncle's at 9pm and that he'd better not be late for the Christmas dinner.

This is when it all became clear. Eureka-style, but far less glorious.